Amanda’s feminine, strong, grounded outdoor personal branding session
Hello, friends! I’m so excited to introduce you to Amanda today and share some of her incredible outdoor personal branding portraits.
Amanda is a yoga teacher and a creative soul through and through. She is at home in nature and loves being outside! She shared with me that she feels a sense of connection to a larger universe when she’s outdoors and knows she can connect to herself as part of a greater whole. Knowing how meaningful nature is to Amanda, it felt really natural to do her personal branding session outdoors!
Amanda’s outdoor session inspiration
When we began planning her personal branding session, Amanda shared that she wanted her pictures to have a natural, earthy quality to them. She wanted to create portraits together that would feel super authentic and grounded.
Amanda shared that she wanted her photos to feel like feminine strength: friendly, approachable, and soft, but also powerful. Knowing that she wanted to use these photos for her role as a yoga teacher, she wanted to create a mix of candid photos and more posted, intentional portraits.
Choosing a location for Amanda’s outdoor session
Amanda and I talked in detail before her portrait session about what sort of outdoor setting she wanted to use. This is one of the biggest considerations when doing an outdoor session! It’s important to think about what sort of location really resonates with you, and it’s equally important to hold space for whatever level of comfort you have with having your photos taken outdoors (being mindful of other people who might be in the area, the weather, wildlife and bugs, etc).
Before Amanda’s session, we considered a variety of different locations -- finding somewhere with a prairie, perhaps, or photographing at a spot up the North Shore. I loved her ideas -- getting to photograph while being in nature is combining two of my very favorite things!
Amanda ended up choosing a state park that she visited and fell in love with! In some of the first pictures, you can see an area with grass and trees near a river. There was another area with the most beautiful pine trees and a floor of pine needles. Yet another area had rolling prairies nestled up against the river shore. The mix of settings was incredible and felt so special!
Amanda’s personal branding wardrobe
Amanda wanted her portraits to feel and look authentic to her yoga teacher role, so she chose to wear her yoga clothes during her session! She chose blue and purple tones that really complimented and contrasted with the nature in the background. Her red hair and the rich colors that she’s wearing really pop against the background in such a lovely way!
Amanda’s personal branding portrait session
We started Amanda’s session in this area along the river bed with grasses and trees coming up over a little hill.
This photo feels so hopeful to me!
As we walked through the state park, we found this beautiful green, forested path with trees on either side.
I love the colors in this picture.
This photo of Amanda feels so feminine and strong.
Amanda looks so confident, open, and happy in this photo. I love her smile here!
I love how this photo feels so natural -- like Amanda just went into the woods to do yoga.
Later on, we found this beautiful grove of pine trees and took some of my very favorite photos from this session. There’s such a cool mix of poses and expressions in here!
Amanda looks so strong in this portrait! I love how the lines of her arms and legs are mirrored in the lines of the trees around her! I also love all of the green in the pines above her and the soft, earthy colors of the pine needles below her.
Amanda, this was such a fun, special session! Your creativity and warmth really shine in these portraits, and your connection with nature is so special -- those pine tree moments are so magical! I’m so glad we got to create these portraits together. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughtful, grounded soul with me!